Money problem holds Dharamkot-Shahkot railway line
The survey for new railway lines to Dharamkot-Shahkot and Kotkapura was over last year but money constraint has stopped the project's wheels. The project requires sufficient budget for its completion in ideal time but the union government hasn't paid any attention to the demand.
The survey for new railway lines to Dharamkot-Shahkot and Kotkapura was over last year but money constraint has stopped the project's wheels.
The project requires sufficient budget for its completion in ideal time but the union government hasn't paid any attention to the demand. On Wednesday, the citizens welfare council of Moga sent a reminder to union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, requesting him to get the work on so that new routes could be opened, later, to Jalandhar, Pathankot, New Delhi, and Mumbai.
"Because of the absence of a railway line, there is no industry, big or small, in Moga, Dharamkot, Baghapurana, Nihal Singh Wala, and Panjgrain," said welfare council chairman Dawarka Nath Bansal. Moga and Dharamkot are part sections of the planned 36-km line connecting Moga, Dharamkot, and Shahkot. The railway board sanctioned the reconnaissance engineering and traffic survey for the new line between Moga and Dharamkot.
Fieldwork is complete and, this month, the railway board will get its report. "The remaining part of the Dharamkot-Shahkot section (16 km) is worked out," said the welfare council chairman. "These areas are not connected through railway line with Jalandhar and Amritsar one side and Bathinda, Delhi, and Rajasthan on the other side.
If we don't have the Moga-Shahkot and Moga-Kotkapura lines, industrialist will continue to avoid setting up shop here because there's no easy way of bringing in the raw material and sending out the finished goods. Transport via trucks is costly, which will make the units uneconomical."